Serizawa stared, entranced, as the great creature moved.
In a way, it looked just like the skeletons he had seen in the museum as a child. They had never given him more than a fleeting moment of interest, as he had always been more captivated by how the entire universe worked on a smaller level. A subatomic level, in fact. One simple life, even at the age of eight years old, never seemed overly significant to him. There were just so many. What would it matter if he crushed a spider? It had done nothing for the world as a whole, it had done nothing for him. Why should he feel any grief for its passing?
Even so, Serizawa marveled at the creature's form. The two stout legs, sturdy enough to lug their master's huge bulk around. The long tail that could convert steel to a useless pile not even usable for scrap metal. The short, compact chest, rimmed with muscles that would make any bodybuilder jealous. The pair of arms attached to it, held close to its sides, as if storing up their power to rip apart entire buildings with almost casual ease. The mouth that could spout its most horrifying weapon, the one that had sent both the largest city in the world and the souls of thousands to succumb slowly to Hell's flame before finally fading away. The eyes that witnessed all of this with an unnatural lack of emotion, their tiny pupils roving to and fro, back and forth, down but never, never up. Never regarding anything as a challenge, never seeing anything as a threat, never even considering that it might be halted at all in its path of carnage.
Looking back, Serizawa wished he had given more thought to what one identity could do for the sake of all. How a single soul could affect, even save so many others. It had seemed so unthinkable.
The monster's leg swung up, scattering a small group of fish that had been swimming near it. It had an arc of twenty meters, more likely than not, yet to the behemoth committing the act, it was just a step forward.
That one step forward shook the ground so hard, just as the other steps it had taken, that it caused several small, underwater sandslides on the sedimentary rock formations that the vibrations traveled through.
But this particular step brought about far more than a few displacements of particles of loosely compacted silicon. Something else also fell through the water before coming to an abrupt rest on the craggy rock below.
The device looked humble enough, from a purely superficial standpoint. It appeared to be nothing more than a clear tube about half a meter long. The only thing odd about it was the baseball-sized sphere suspended in the center by two rods on either side. But it looked nothing like any kind of weapon. There was no suggestion of threat.
From a purely superficial standpoint.
But from somewhere came something… else. That little tube with that little ball inside it emanated an even greater, if more subtle, feeling of menace than the dinosaurian monstrosity that had sent it tumbling to the ground.
Serizawa was a scientist. As such, he had to attempt to see things in a cool, controlled manner. He had to simply think of what that little ball contained, from a scientific standpoint. A chemical compound that removed the oxygen from water, causing the liquification of all organic matter.
But to try to see this sentence as anything but personal was impossible. The horror of this thing he had created, this Oxygen Destroyer, had shaken him more than he had ever thought physically possible. His first test had taken him completely by surprise, for it was out of pure luck that he came across it. Pure bad luck, that is. Either way, he didn't - he couldn't - eat for several days. He didn't even try for the first day or so, and after that, it was like an invisible hand pushed down his arm when he tried to take a bite of anything. And he hadn't even tried to resist.
Serizawa's views on one life didn't change from the experience. It wasn't that one little fish that had died in the experiment that bothered him. He was still a rational man, and he still didn't consider the fish's life to be of any great importance. No, what haunted him so was this substance's potential. Of what it could do to a number of people. To thousands, millions at a time.
For a moment, the little tube didn't move, as if it wasn't going to activate. But Serizawa detected a foreboding vibe from it, like a rope that quivered slightly just before it snapped.
The little ball opened.
Bubbles bigger than Serizawa's head erupted from the tube, as if they were eager to escape into the world beyond to cause more and more death. In a matter of seconds, they transformed into a column of foam, the force of the device was so intense. Serizawa scooted back until he was against a rocky wall.
The creature lumbering through the water seemed confused by the collection of bubbles. It stared at them curiously until they reached his head. Suddenly, the mouth opened and it started to thrash its head around. The arms traveled to its throat, trying to find the source of whatever was choking it.
Before long, the head was not the only thing thrashing. The whole 50 meter body of the monster lashed out in random spasms. The limbs beat at the surrounding water furiously, the tail swung farther and farther, like a pendulum. The jaws snapped shut every so often, shining fangs gleaming in the murky water as if trying to fight the Oxygen Destroyer. But this was one enemy that couldn't be fought. It had only the power to kill, and nothing more.
While the movements propelled it slightly upward, gravity, though nullified by the frothing water, brought the creature down. It writhed like a fish stranded on the shore of a beach, its huge body flopping this way and that. Those muscles, that had reduced dozens upon dozens of buildings to rubble, were utterly useless against this new enemy.
The bubbles were getting more numerous by the second. Some of the smaller ones had reached him and the rock wall he was leaning on. The mere centimeter of the material composing his diving suit, however, provided an impenetrable barrier against the force of death that was currently killing the most powerful creature that had ever walked the face of the earth.
Serizawa needed to fix that.
"Ogata, it worked!" he said to his diving partner on the boat through his radio. "Both of you, be happy," he bode him. Now there was no reason for him to hold back from Emiko. If he wouldn't have her, then he wasn't going to stand in her way, even when he was gone. "Goodbye… farewell!"
There was a moment of confused silence from the other end. Then, "Serizawa!" blared from his radio. "Hey, bring him up!" he heard Ogata call to somebody. "Serizawa!" the shouting resumed.
He ignored Ogata's cries as he took out his pocketknife. It shined as he moved it forward, not entirely unlike the dying creature's teeth. Interesting.
This had to be done. With this sacrifice, he was saving the world not once, but twice over. One from the monster, one from what was killing it. This extermination was being broadcasted throughout the entire world. He had burned his papers at the laboratory, but as long as he lived, so did the Oxygen Destroyer. The formula was still engraved in his head as if in stone, and there was nothing he could do about that. If he didn't do this, only torture and suffering remained in his future. Those who craved power would attempt to force it out of him. And he, a lowly human being with a low threshold for pain, would oblige in the end.
He didn't hesitate at all as he cut his rope and air tube. The water, holding death in its insides, rushed in.
It was neither the deep bubbling of the water nor the bellowing cries from the dying creature that Serizawa heard in his final moments. All else, the pain, the suffocation, and even his life flashing before his eyes was pushed aside.
All of Serizawa's world was composed of the prayer of the children. The prayer that had finally shown him the truth. That the Oxygen Destroyer was worth using as a means to do good. That one life did matter, because the sacrifice of one life could mean the salvation of every other. This was how he willed his life to end, and he was granted his wish.
May we live without destruction
May we look to tomorrow with hope
May peace and light return to us.
Serizawa's life ended with the comforting knowledge that he had fulfilled his purpose.